Frenchman’s Creek | Jeff Lichtenstein | Frenchmans Creek

Frenchman’s Creek | History | Frenchmans Creek

Daphne du Maurier, a famed British author, in her novel “Frenchman’s Creek,” tells the story of a French pirate on the run who finds refuge in a small Cornish waterway and later wins the heart of a local lady

In 1935 the Hoyt family bought land on North Prosperity Farms Road near the Intracoastal Waterway

They were attracted to a fresh-water basin and a hurricane haven for boats

By the 1940s the family owned much of the area, then known as Paradise Port

In the later 1940s federal surveyors found a small wooden sign that one of the Hoyt children, Billy Hoyt, had placed on a small creek

It turned out the children had informally named the stream for one of their mother’s favorite novels: Du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek

The name became official and still marks the small waterway that runs through the Frenchman’s Creek neighborhood and connects to the nearby Marina

In 1977 developers Burt Haft and Jack Gaines purchased the 1,400 acres of land, formerly owned by the Hoyts, from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for $61 million, which included two public golf courses

The 700 acres south of Donald Ross Road with the two golf courses became Frenchman’s Creek

The 700 acres north of Donald Ross Road were sold and are now home to The Bear’s Club and Ritz Carlton Golf and Spa communities

Frenchman’s Creek was approved by the county for the development of 3,300 housing units; Haft Gaines settled for a much lower density of only 600 home sites

Houses were then marketed from $325,000 to more than $3 million

In 1986 additional land was purchased in Juno Beach on which the Beach Club was built directly adjacent to the Atlantic Ocean